Those Brave Few
by RedBeetle
Summary: The world was in chaos. The Fire Nation was cutting through the other Nations like a scythe through wheat. The Air Nation was destroyed, the Water Tribes, almost extinct. The Earth Nation was clawing its way to defeat, and the Fire Nation, once so diverse and different, had become a nation of war. Join four brave men, and woman, in their efforts to stop the Fire Nation.


**A/N:** What's up, y'all? Red Beetle here. Nothing special, thought I'd start up a new series while I continue to write The Homecoming. Thought of this idea after a listening to a metric crap load of Disturbed songs. (Check em out, their new album Immortalized came out recently.) If you want a song to listen to, how about two? Sowing Season and Millstone by Brand New (I consider these two one song) and Indestructible by Disturbed. Anyway, fairly simple story. Just four humans pulled out of our world, and placed into the Avatar one. Read on if that idea interests you, and welcome to:

 **Those Brave Few**

 **CHAPTER 1**

" _It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." – Luke 12:7_

* * *

Raava looked around. Even though she was bound to the Avatar, she could still peer around both worlds: Spirit and Mortal. She was distraught by what she saw. In the Spirit World, Spirits fought and quarrelled over the smallest of matters. And in the mortal world, for almost a hundred years of war had ravaged the world of men. Hundreds of thousands had died, and many more had been left unable to do more than lie in bed. Soldiers, thousands of them, returning from war, and being unable to communicate. Sitting there, with blank looks on their faces, as if they had no soul left. In a sense, that was true. These men had seen the worst humanity in this world had to offer. Often, these men had been that worst. They were broken, and many ended their lives rather than put up with this guilt, this loneliness. Raava knew that if this war continued, the damage would be irreparable. The Air Nation had been annihilated. The Water tribes were close to extinction. The Earth Kingdom was clawing its way to defeat, and inevitably, death. And the Fire Nation, once so diverse and different, had become hollow and focused on the killing of men.

Raava needed to do something. She knew that, if she could solve the problem of the war in the mortal realm, the spirits would calm. However, with her young, naive and untrained champion stuck in a block of ice, she knew that someone else would need to set the stage. She needed another champion. Raava thought about her sister world, the second realm of mortals. These mortals had many brave men to choose from, but she need a diverse range of traits she knew she would not get from one man. So, she decided to pull men from all ranges of time. She would need a brave warrior, one with a heart of fire. She would need a human who could _understand_ , one with soul of water. She would need a simple, uncomplicated human, to form a stable rock. And finally, she would need an idealist, a human who could impassion these humans to fight for what they believed in. And she knew how to get them.

Crassus Casio, leader of the XIX Legion, led his men into battle. The Goths had struck at a Roman Fort on the border between Germania and Gaul. They had overrun the fort, and were pushing for a major town, sitting on a major crossroads between Rome and the front lines in Germania. Crassus' task was to cut down this rebellion while it was still in its infancy, and give these barbarians a show of power that would make future generations look upon the Romans with fear.

Crassus had been described as one of Rome's weakest leaders by the Emperor himself. Further from the truth, he couldn't have been. Crassus was a hard-line general, with a motto of "No Prisoners, No Glory." He never organised triumphs for his victories, never captured any prisoners, never gathered any loot, and never dealt in politics. However, Crassus was in fact a very humble man, who never believed in slaves. He had never talk himself up at a political party, because he had never been to one. Any loot he gathered was sent straight back to Rome, for use in public service projects. And any prisoners he captured, he let go.

Crassus had been raised by a family of farmers, and had been taught that he could be happy with nothing. He had joined the army at the age of eighteen, as most young Romans did. However, his tactical brilliance, as well as his willingness to obey orders, made him a star soldier in the eyes of his commanding officers. However, his unwillingness to take slaves, let his soldiers pillage anything, and his refusal to engage in any sort of political scheming had stunted his career at the rank of Legate.

However, he had earned his rank, after a particular bloody battle at a place called Malpais, in Spain. The local name for it had long been forgotten, but what was important about it was that, the night before the battle, all of the head officers; the centurions, the Legate, and the Auxila Commander, had all met in the Legate's tent to have a Roman style party. All except Crassus. A centurion at the time, he had stayed with his men, had eaten among them, and had drank with them. As such, he was spared the fate of the rest of the commanding officers, as they had been assassinated that night. When morning came, about half of the legion deserted, not wanting to face a battle against a foe that outnumbered them, and had killed off their commanders. However, Crassus had managed to pull together the remainder of the soldiers, and they began to defend the camp from the Spanish onslaught.

The Legion held out for two days. Their numbers reduced to the size of a century, Crassus decided to let his men retreat. They retreated back to a base camp, three leagues away from the battlefield. As they retreated, they heard Crassus scream at the opposition.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

The enemy rushed Crassus. The archers put down their bows, and drew their swords. The horsemen dismounted, and charged. The spearmen through down their spears, and pulled swords from the fallen Legionaries. As Crassus drew his two swords, _Vitae_ and _Mortum_. Life and Death. Crassus started to cut down his foes, and the soldiers retreating, along with the few survivors among the enemy, swore that he had begun to glow. A red outline had appeared on his body. The Blessing of Mars. Eventually, the glow became so hot that Crassus' armour burned away, leaving only his luck as protection. Eventually, reinforcements arrived, and they came upon a scene from a nightmare. Crassus was standing upon a pile of corpses, with multiple wounds, screaming at the retreating enemies. Scared about his power, many politicians allowed him to take over the XIX Legion. However, this came with a cost. Covered in scars and burn marks, he covered his face in wrappings, and he became known as the Malpais Legate to the Romans, and The Burned Man to the barbarians.

And so, now he leads the XIX Legion in battle.

Raava needed this man. He had the heart of fire, the mighty warrior. All she needed was a way to pull him out of his world without arising suspicion among the spirits that dwelled there. As she observed the battlefield, she spotted a few captured catapults, loaded with flammable ammo. She influenced the soldiers using them, to aim at the hill that Crassus was occupying. As the catapult let fly, she directed the flaming ball right into the centre of the battle, therefore aiming directly at Crassus. Just as the ball appeared overhead, she snatched Crassus out of the world, and the ball crashed into the ground, hiding any clue of Raava's interference. To the normal soldiers around Crassus, it looked as if he had been engulfed in flame, never to be seen again.

He would be the first member of this group. The fire. And, fittingly, he would be given command of this element.

* * *

Bianca di Ablo was an Italian inventor during the time of the Renaissance. However, all of her inventions were ignore for one simple reason.

She was a girl.

She invented a plane hundreds of years before the Wright Brothers even thought of flight. She had tanks down pat before Leonardo da Vinci had even thought of inventing anything. And she, most incredible of all, had created artificial life. Her _Meccanismi_. Her clockworks. Unfortunately, after her latest development, she was banished from Naples as a witch, and she took up refuge in the hills surrounding what was Pompeii.

Her clockworks guarded the hills, and made sure that all curious travellers, hoping to find "The Clockwork Witch", were driven away, either simply by being scared off, or by force. Eventually, the myth of the Clockwork Witch disappeared into the mist, making it much easier for Raava to enlist her help. However, as Bianca was contacted by Raava, Bianca had questions. One hundred of them in fact. Raava stayed at Bianca's stronghold for days, answering all of her questions. After the last question had been answered, Bianca was silent for a long time. Eventually, Bianca agreed to come to Raava's world. However, her one condition was that she be given a few days to gather some supplies.

Raava obliged to her request, and Bianca gathered up the things she knew she couldn't live without: the last letter her parents ever sent her, her clockwork designs, her battle armour, and finally, her wings she had recently invented to allow herself, and her clockworks, to travel great distances quickly. She also asked to be able to bring along four of her choice clockworks, and Raava agreed. As an idealist, Bianca believed that if the Spirit of Light of another world believed in her, she would do all she could to stop this war.

As the dreamer, Bianca would be given control of the element that best described her: Air.

* * *

When Raava visited Japan, she sighed. She was upset by this country's overwhelming focus on military strength and 'honour'. But, she needed someone who knew what it was like to live in a country that was worn torn, and understood how it was to be discriminated and sidelined, even by his own race. This man, was Mukasawa Ichigirio.

Mukasawa was a dwarf. He was born to a prostitute living in the outskirts of Kyoto. Dumped in the streets due to his mother not earning enough to keep her baby, he grew up as target practice for the sons of Samurai. They would make him steal, assault and even murder other people as they grew older. Eventually, he grew tired of their treatment towards him, and forged a crude katana, and killed all of his tormentors, and left a note in the room explaining why.

He moved to a small village on the island of Kyushu, and became the village's blacksmith. Over the years, he gathered enough money to found an orphanage for kids that had been born under similar circumstances to him. Mukasawa was known for miles around as the 'Cheerful Dwarf', as he would merrily sing as he went about his daily activities. The village eventually began to grow in size, and Mukasawa left his blacksmith shop to his apprentices, and moved on. For years he continued in his work, and legends of the Cheerful Dwarf began to spread around not only Kyushu, but throughout all of Japan.

Raava approached Mukasawa while he was on the road, and asked him to come help stop a war. When he asked why, she explained that the war had started due to racial inequality: due to the fact that the Fire Nations saw themselves as better than all other Nations. Mukasawa after thinking for a few moments, nodded his head. Before he was sent to Raava's world, he had one simple request: all of his money he had stored around Japan was to be spread evenly throughout all of his orphanages, so that they could continue without him. Raava agreed, and so she worked her magic, and the coins found their way into the coffers of all of Mukasawa's Orphanages.

Mukasawa, the kind and caring soul that he was, was given the most free-flowing element: water.

* * *

Finally, Raava travelled forward in time. To 2030 actually. She needed someone strong, calm-headed and most importantly, willing to fight for his morals. She found one such man.

His name: Ben Chekov.

Ben was born and raised in the country of Russia, and had lived through some of the most turbulent times in Russian history: The annexation of Georgia, the invasion of Crimea, the Liberation of Ukraine, the destruction of ISIS and finally, the War in the North. He had fought in most of these wars, and had killed more men than anyone in the Russian army. Ben was a communist, but not because he was Russian: he had travelled all over the world, and had deduced that the only way forward was true equality: communism.

Ben was a simple man with simple morals in a confusing and fast paced world: No Murder, No Rape, No Theft, No Collateral Damage, and No one left behind. These steadfast and simple morals had lead him straight to Project: STALINGRAD. The project was about creating not only a super-soldier, but a suit of armour to go with it. The armour that came out of this was called the Iron Hammer. It was equipped with a new type of reactive armour, and had a damage resistance up to a M1A2 120 mm Smoothbore round. It could survive radioactive fallout for years. It came with increased moving speed, increased strength, and increased stopping power. The armour, however, was still in its early testing phases when Raava found Ben.

Ben was the most mysterious of the four Raava had recruited. Crassus' story had been well documented by Roman Historians, and Bianca had a few legends about her exploits. Even Mukasawa had a few records left over from his orphanages. Raava had asked the spirits to collect these documents for her, but they could not find anything on Ben. Nothing. Not even a record of birth, nothing. This lead Raava to believe that a) Ben had changed his name, and removed his connections to the past, or b) the Spirits of this world were taking a lot more active role than she thought.

Ben was walking around the compound in Northern Russia, when he saw a strange light. After walking towards it, he found Raava. They talked for a while, and Raava found out why Ben's past had been so hard to find: he had his past erased. Turns out his parents and elder brother had been members of a Chechnya Separatist group, and had all been killed in an attack on a Russian Government building. He, age 18 at the time, vowed to never go down that road, and instead join the Russian Army. After qualifying for Spetsnaz training, he served for years with distinction, before applying for Operation: STALINGRAD. He was augmented, and the construction of his armour began. Raava explained that although he would be able to return to his time, his strength was needed to stop another war. He agreed, as Raava knew he would.

The rock and soul of the team had been recruited. All was ready. Raava had them all transported to the Spirit world she occupied. Time was short, and Raava needed these men, and woman, to be battle ready in a few weeks at most. Fire Nation victory was drawing ever closer. The Avatar was still under the ice. And finally, Vaatu was becoming stronger. She could feel it.


End file.
